Presents and Celebrations
by seinka
Summary: Once upon a time I got an idea to write a story as a birthday gift. Then again and again. This is small collection of such stories. And even if they were gifts for certain people, everyone is welcome to read them. :)
1. Firemind's Game

_This was a birthday gift for Redtrinity from Tiamat Elyos._

 _It's a crossover of Aion and Magic: The Gathering._

* * *

 **Firemind's Game**

The days of the solstice festival were coming closer much faster than Shien anticipated. Every single detail she had to deal with was proving more difficult with each passing day. Inviting performers looked easy, everyone wanted to be part of an event that didn't occur in a long time. But aligning them to available places and timeslots was impossible. Some were available only in the morning, some could perform only in the night, some required open sky, some sheltered stage. And the worst part were their quarrels. One group didn't like other, so they claimed very loudly, that if she puts them on one stage with them, even if their performances were on different days, they won't participate. And in the meantime she had to deal with the neverending requests from guests and merchants. She took her map of Pandaemonium with notes and tried to solve the puzzle, before going to sleep. But the more she looked at it, the more she couldn't take her eyes off of twelve strange symbols and a glowing line between them. _Wait, this isn't Pandaemonium at all!_ When she realised that, the world around her became black.

~ x ~

Rain was quite rare in Danaria, but when it started, the sky wouldn't clear sooner than few days later. The water was pouring from the clouds for third day already and Trinity found herself bored. She read all her notes about the Hyperion research at least twice and nothing she could think of would relieve her from her boredom. She picked one of her notes at random, it was a map of Danaria with highlighted archaelogical sites where Hyperion parts were found. There were exactly twelve of them and thin glowing line was connecting them all. _Why are there streets and buildings in the Keliden swamp?_ She tried to figure out this strange phenomenon, when all lights around her suddenly vanished.

~ x ~

She woke up, no, more precise description would be _appeared_ in an unknown place. The last thing she remembered was sitting on her chair strudying map of Pandaemonium, then as if she blinked and suddenly she was standing here, on a giant stone disc with glowing symbols she has never seen before. She instinctively touched her right wrist to ensure her magic crystal was still there. The presence of her only weapon calmed her down a bit. It wasn't a direct weapon in a sense of hitting something or shooting projectiles, but it enhanced her ability to channel aether and her spells, either for attack or defense, were more powerful.

She carefully looked around to see something, that would help her to identify where she was, but she could see only stars above and grey fog below the disc. She started walking and the glow of runes in the stone changed. The longer she walked on the edge of this disc, the more she was convinced there was some pattern in the glow. She made few more steps and when she was sure, she put her foot on one of the symbols. A white light erupted from it and within few seconds she appeared on a wide street with arches over it and lined with bushes and trees. There were five arches in total and on each of their columns there was a symbol. She remembered she had seen them before, but couldn't place their meaning.

Suddenly she saw another flash of light about ten meters in front of her and a person stepped out of it. She had long black ornate dress, messy hair of the same colour and also a crystal on her right wrist. And she was an Elyos.

Shien started charging her crystal, but in a split second she realised that there was peace and attacking the other person just for being Elyos wouldn't be the best idea.

~ x ~

When the lights appeared again, Trinity was no longer in her room in Pandarunerk's Delve, but in some grey wallless room. The only things that were not grey and foggy were her chair, desk and strange metal device made of several rings and five coloured, glowing beads; bright yellow, blue, red, green and dark purple. She wondered how such dark colour could glow. After few minutes of observing it she touched one of the rings. It moved. And spark popped between the blue and green beads. Trinity poked another ring and more sparks appeared. The closer the beads were, the stronger was the electric discharge. She played with the rings for a while, until all the beads were aligned in one row.

Then the device cracked with energy and white glowing door appeared next to her. She stepped though it, finding a wide street with arches on the other side. And a red-haired Asmodian in a dress with colour of sea corals and a skirt cut sideways. For a moment it seemed she's going to attack her, but the Asmodian stopped in the middle of movement and carefully made few steps towards her.

~ x ~

"Hello," Shien put on her professional smile she was forced to practice a lot in the last days and greeted the Elyos. "Do you know what is this place?"

"Is it some riddle?" the Elyos replied with a question and frowned.

"No. It seems I got a bit lost and I've never seen this street before."

"That makes two of us."

"Oh," Shien was surprised. "Good, I'm not getting crazy, then," she smiled and extended her hand towards the Elyos. "I'm Shienar, currently tasked with paperwork in Pandaemonium."

"I'm Trinity, apprentice of Kaza and I'm researching Hyperions in Danaria. Nice to meet you."

"Hyperions? Found anything useful?"

"Hm, not much. And Kaza won't even let me to leave the Delve, since the kidnappings started again, I always have to wait for him to return from some travels to bring me fresh findings."

"Kidnappings? I haven't heard about any kidnappings since Beritra took the Young Lady," Shien searched her memory.

"Who's Young Lady?"

"You don't know? That Kaza guy must be really keeping you under a rock. It's an unofficial nickname for lady Triniel's and lord Nezekan's daughter."

"What? They have daughter?" Trinity was shocked. "I've heard lady Triniel adopted some boy ten years ago, but daughter? That doesn't make any sense."

"You're right, it doesn't. And it's not important. What _is_ important, however, is what's this," Shien waved her hands around. "And how do we get back. Ever seen any of those symbols?"

"Hm," the Elyos looked at some of the columns. "Yeah, I did... but I don't remember where. Is it some riddle?" she repeated her first question. "There _was_ one before I got here."

"You're right, the runes! It totally didn't look like a riddle back then, I just saw a pattern..."

"I had a device with circles and beads to align them."

"Okay, it's a riddle," Shien started walking along the columns. "There are ten symbols here, each representing something. We have... two trees, two spiders, one... can this be sun?"

"A sun with a fist?"

"Two suns, one dragon, one angry face, I have no idea what this one is and one triangle with circle writing inside. Do you see any sense in it?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Maybe they're here to confuse us, let's try going somewhere else," Shien suggested.

"Where?"

"Left or right?"

They decided on the left exit from the archway. When they stepped out of the shelter of the trees, a large shadow moved over them. They both activated their crystals almost instantly and the moment a large red creature landed on the square they let out their spells. It didn't help them much, the aetheric energy hit a protective shield and dispersed harmlessly. Now they could see what they attacked. A majestic dragon with red scales, purple lower parts of wings and yellow glowing eyes was sitting in front of them and watching them with interest.

"Well, what took you so long?" he asked and his voice boomed through the streets.

"Were you expecting us?" Shien recovered from the shock and deactivated her crystal. If the dragon wanted to hurt them, he could have attacked them instead of just flying over.

"Expecting you? No, I brought you here," he replied as if it was obvious. "But I expected you to solve my riddles much faster."

"Why did you bring us here?" Trinity followed Shien's example and stopped gathering aether.

"I wanted to see if someone from other worlds is capable of solving the implicit maze, but seeing you two, I must admit I overestimated the Daevas. Maybe I can try the Qunari next time."

"Are you saying we're stupid?" the Asmodian frowned.

"Yes."

"Oh, great and can you send us back, then? You apparently don't need us and at least I have a lot of things to do. And deadlines. Tight deadlines."

The dragon started laughing. The noise was so loud and terrible the Daevas had to cover their ears. After few minutes he stopped.

"And what about proving me you're not stupid?"

"Why?" Shien shrugged. "I don't even know who you are, I don't care what do you think about me."

"Is it what we have to do to convince you to send us back?" Trinity asked.

"Interesting," the dragon scratched his jawline. "Maybe you're not _that_ stupid after all. I'll let you solve the maze. You'll have easier conditions, this city isn't real, you won't encounter any people who would hinder you, except for the Gate guardians. I'll see you on the Forum of Azor. And remember, the one who brought you here is the Great Firemind, Niv-Mizzet," he proclaimed, spread his wings and flew away.

"Wait! What are those Gate guardians? And what Gates?" Shien shouted, but he ignored her. "That arrogant bastard!" she kicked nearest stone when his silhouette disappeared behind the roofs.

"I don't want to preach, but we need to stay as calm as possible," Trinity suggested. "And we have to focus on solving the maze and get out of here quickly, I don't know if we can find any food here."

"Food, right, he said it's not real here. Okay, let's start then."

"But where? There is a maze, somewhere. There is at least one Gate and it has some guardians. But if we have to solve it, we must find where does the maze start."

"Here. That's why he brought us to this place, because it starts here," Shien realised. "He said _implicit maze_ and I don't think he sair that just because it sounds cool. This whole city is the maze. And we must find the correct way through it to that Forum of Azor."

"Through the Gates!" Trinity pointed out. "And if those hints are correct, there's ten Gates and each has guardians. Those symbols must mean what we can expect."

"Yes! That makes sense! Now we just have to find their locations and order and we can go," Shien said with smile, as if it was the easiest way to do. Then she put her fingers under her eyes and concentrated on aether around. When she opened her eyes, they were faintly glowing white. "There," she pointed at one of the streets. "Let's go."

"How do you know?"

"I used aether to enhance my sight. I can see a glowing line leading from that promenade to that street. It's quite taxing to keep it, so we should move."

"Right, the Boon of Clairvoyance! I should thought of that too."

"Boon of what?" Shien asked with confusion, already on the move.

"Boon of Clairvoyance, the spell you just used, it's meant to enhance sight to reveal hidden things," Trinity explained. "Or do the Asmodians call it differently?"

"I don't think we even have names for spells, we just... use the aether the best way we can think of. And I talked with some Elyos sorcerers and they didn't mention any names either."

"Another of the mysteries," Trinity sighed. "Did you say lady Triniel has a daughter with lord Nezekan?"

"Yes. But no one knew that, until she was captured by the Elyos one day and then kidnapped by the Balaur. From what I heard she was raised in orphanage to protect her from being used in war. Well, she's lucky, we have peace with the Elyos now. And it doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. Unless lord Zikel does some stupid thing again. Look, it seems like we're at the first gate."

They stood at the base of a huge staircase leading to massive wall covered with trees, living and carved. At the top of the stairs there was a group of people and living trees. Shien dismissed her spell, her eyes were starting to burn and she needed to concentrate on what was ahead of them, either diplomacy or fight.

The two sorceresses carefully walked up. As expected, the guards stopped them. Unfortunately, neither Shien nor Trinity could understand what they were saying and the guards had the same problems with them. It didn't take long and fight erupted. Shien managed to burn most of the walking trees with one spell and after few attempts Trinity created a cloud that put all the guardians asleep. Then the two of them ran through the Gate. They stopped running only when they reached the first crossroad.

"I hope they won't follow us," Trinity said. "That fire spell was impressive, but I suppose you don't have a name for it."

"It's called _Burn in Hell, Bitches_ ," Shien replied while she tried to catch her breath. "And I think I need a break, can you do the sight spell this time?"

"Sure, no problem," Trinity whispered the words she learned for the spell and soon she could see the path through the maze. "Let's go."

The glowing line led them down the stairs and even after they reached the ground level, it continued further down. The trees and bushes around them were still present, but they became darker and more savage. Few times they got the impression they heard movements of various bugs and other vermin, but they saw nothing.

"Uh, sewers," Shien twisted her face in unpleasant grin. "Are you sure the line goes this way?"

"Unfortunately yes," Trinity didn't look any happier.

Finally they reached the wall with a giant bug statued on it and low and narrow tunnel with one of the symbols from the promenade. Trinity cancelled the spell and looked around.

"Through that," she pointed at the tunnel. "I don't like it."

"Me neither," Shien took a deep breath and came closer. Then she conjured a huge fireball and thrusted it into the tunnel. "It should be a bit safer now."

They entered the tunnel.

After several steps they begun hearing sounds similar to hundreds of little creatures approaching them. Shien lit a small fire in her palm. Trinity yelped. What they saw was much worse they expected. Spiders, cockroaches, mantises, small snakes and other various bugs were swarming all over the floor and walls.

"Run!" the Asmodian threw the fire ahead to clear the path. They dashed forward, but the mass of creatures was too fast and was closing in from all the sides. Another fireball cleared few meters. Before they emerged on the other side of the tunnel, Shien stopped counting how many spells she had to cast.

"Don't stop, they're still there!" Trinity yelled when she saw her companion slowing down.

"I'm tired," Shien had trouble to catch her breath.

"At least to those stairs!" the Elyos pointed at one of the exits from the sewers complex. The whole place was overgrown with plants, grass and lianas, as if no one took care of it for centuries, but the more time they spent there, it gave the feeling it was like that on purpose. The stairs, however, were clean of such vegetation, that's why Trinity has chosen it as a place to rest. The moment they both set their feet on the first step, the creatures stopped and returned back into the tunnel.

"Again, your fire spells are impressive, but you shouldn't overdoing it this much," Trinity said after short while of sitting and catching breath.

"If I weren't _overdoing_ it, we wouldn't get through," Shien retorted.

"Well, yes, but if our theory aboout the symbols and gates is correct, there's eight more. You need to save your energy."

"You're right, but saving up energy and dying at second gate wouldn't be that great either," the red-haired sorceress smiled and started gathering aether for the eyes enhancing spell.

"You were really tired just a moment, shouldn't I cover it?"

"No, it's my turn, I'll be fine," her eyes glowed white. "Congrats, you picked the right path."

The shining invisible line led them up the stairs onto nice square. It was well maintained, clean and every single thing had its own place in some complex order. The fountains were all painted blue, benches were white with yellow ornaments, mostly the triangle symbol they saw on the promenade where they started, and the buildings around just screamed _order_. The contrast with the sewers they just left was overwhelming. They walked through, until they got to the base of another staircase. Shien cancelled her spell.

"Up there," she nodded towards the top of the stairs, where two warriors in shining plate armour and one fat man in robes waited for them. The two women calmly walked up, they didn't want to meet the guardians exhausted.

"I really don't want to fight at every gate," Trinity grunted.

"Yeah, me neither," Shien agreed. "Let's hope these guys will be friendly."

As expected the guards stopped them and the fat guy started explaining something to them in that alien language they didn't understand. From how detailed his robes were and tone of his voice they assumed he was someone important and considered guarding the gate as something under his standard. Shien left the negotiation to Trinity, but even her patience was going through a trial here. Finally the man raised his voice and pointed at something on the ground that looked like a rug.

"What?" Trinity looked at him with surprise. "You mean... is it really that simple?" she shook her head and cleaned her shoes on the rug. The man calmed down and gestured that she could pass. Shien followed the ritual and within moment both of them left the gate behind them.

"Wow, this was easy," the Asmodian giggled.

"Three down, seven to go," the black haired sorceress activated her seeing spell. "Down again, why am I not surprised?"

They followed the guiding light though the nice and clean streets, which soon became darker and darker. Not as creepy as the sewers full of bugs, but eerie enough to give them chills.

"So... that Kaza you mentioned," Shien spoke to banish the silence. "How long is he researching the Hyperions?"

"For a few decades, I think. You've never heard of him? He's quite famous. He lives in Pandarunerk's Delve, to be close to the ancient Danuar ruins, but he travels a lot. There's no way you wouldn't hear of him."

"I've heard of some Hyperion researcher in the Delve, but the name was something like Lucas or Lucus, definitely not Kaza. And I've heard a rumor he has disappeared, no one has seen him for about a year."

"Hm... I don't think I've ever heard he had a co-worker or a rival. The things you say really..." Trinity stopped and looked around in confusion.

"What happened? Are we lost?"

"No, just... the glowing line goes right into this wall."

"What?" Shien couldn't believe that and activated her spell too. "You're right... that's retarded. The wall I mean, not you being right."

"Uh, okay. How do we get through?"

"Step aside a bit," Shien grinned, cancelled her seeing spell and made few steps backwards.

"What are you... why am I even asking," Trinity shook her head and left the direct path between the Asmodian and the wall. As expected, the incoming fireball did nothing.

"What? Really? Not a scratch?" Shien frowned after examining the wall. Then she threw few more spells, switching between ice and fire, but the stone remained intact. "Come on!" she said after a while when she tried to catch her breath.

"Maybe we shouldn't try to overcome it with force?" Trinity suggested.

"Stupid, idiotic, retarded wa... aaaah!" Shien ignored her comment and angrily hit the wall. But at that moment the stone's consistence became less firm and she lost her balance and fell right through it. Trinity stared at the empty space and at the wall that still looked intact.

"Shien? Are you there? Somewhere?"

"Yeah, I think I'm behind the wall," voice of her companion echoed from the stone. "It's really creepy here and... yep, the glowing line continues."

"How did you get through?"

"Uh, I don't know, I was just angry and tried to hit that freak of wall and then I was here. Fortunately it's clean here, don't worry."

Trinity had to spend five entire minutes to insult the wall enough to be let through. When she finally fell on the other side, Shien was sitting on the floor and dozing.

"Wake up, sleepyhead, let's get out of this place," Trinity shook with her gently.

"Uhm, what? Yes, of course, sorry. So the wall finally gave up, huh?" the Asmodian stood up and activated the seeing spell. "This way," she pointed in the only direction available. "At least we didn't have to kiss that wall."

They went through the undercity labytinth, guided by the glowing line, and emerged from it on an edge of a forest. Or something between forest and a battlefield. Their path led right through the thickest bushes and rose up to a wooden ramp that ended in somehing that looked like remnants of some old fortress or outpost. Only one wall and few columns of an arcade were left. And one two-headed giant. One of the symbols from the beginning was scrawled over torn transparents hanging from the ruins.

"Do you think this one can be reasoned with?" Trinity whispered.

"I doubt it, but you're free to try," Shien cancelled the spell. "I'm starting to have a headache, by the way."

"From the spells?"

"Yeah."

"And there's still so many gates ahead," Trinity sighed. "We need to... WATCH OUT!" she yelled in surprise when she noticed that the giant ran towards them at incredible speed. They could only summon shields, but the creature's huge hands passed through the aetheric energy as if it was just air and grabbed both sorceresses around their waists. Shien instinctively threw a fireball into his face, but it had no effect. The flames just vanished when they reached his skin.

The left giant's head shouted something. Again, they couldn't understand, but even to them it sounded like inarticulate roar. Then he swung his arms and threw both women over the gate. They both tried to summon their wings, but found out it was impossible. In panic they flew over few streets and splashed down into a canal full of clear water and various floating or sticky plants. The current immediately carried them towards a medium-sized waterfall. After they landed in a semi-calm pool, they could finally get out of water.

"We're lost, aren't we?" Shien asked while removing algae from her hair. "Eugh."

"I hate this place," Trinity almost begun to cry, but wringing her dress to get rid of water caught most of her attention, so she calmed down within few minutes. After they both fixed their appearances as much as they could, she activated the seeing spell and looked around. "Ah, over there!" she pointed at one aqueduct, where she saw a glimpse of glowing blue. "Let's go."

After half an hour of trying to find a way back to the guiding line, they finally climbed onto the last step.

"It would be easier if we could fly," Shien grunted.

"You had trouble with wings too?"

"Hm..."

"Which direction should we go in?" Trinity asked, when they were standing beside the glow. "I really don't want to go back to that giant."

"Yeah, we came from... there? So chances are the correct is this way. But we can always return if we see those ruins again."

"Okay."

They set forth following the line again, this time they walked inside the aqueduct for quite a long while. The exit led them to a scenery they have never seen before. Loads and loads of metal pipes and gears were twisted and connected and covered several buildings. They walked carefully and tried to not freak out every time some of those pipes let go of overflowing steam.

"I can imagine the Hyperions could be made in something like this," Trinity broke the silence. "If so, the Danuar were really crazy people."

They stopped in front of a building which had some pipes made of glass and filled with blue and red liquid. Also the dragon symbol from the archway was on the top of the gate the glowing line was passing through.

"I wonder if that substance is just a decoration or if it turns out to be the guardians," Shien pondered.

"Don't... elaborate on that. And let's be careful."

The following corridor was missing any windows, but the darkness was suppressed by various red and blue glowing devices. Each of them had a miniature of the dragon symbol on them. After few tens of meters they entered a large hall, where the dragon Niv-Mizzet was waiting for them.

"Hello, ladies, what took you so long?" his voice boomed.

"Oh, you again?" Shien rolled her eyes. "Did we pass your test or failed?"

"Don't provoke him," Trinity hissed.

"Hahahaha, you still haven't reached the end of the maze, there's one more gate after this one."

"One?"

"Yes, one. You skipped three gates when you failed to defeat the Gruul giant," he said patronisingly. "I didn't even expect you would, though. He has incredible resistance to magic when he's trying."

"And now you're here because..."

"I decided to take place of the Izzet guardian. I wanted to see how you're doing. Maybe I could ask you if you want to give up? The last gate is literally a hellhole."

"What happens if we _do_ give up?" Trinity asked with curiosity.

"You won't know until you do so," the dragon grinned.

"Let's go, Trin. It's some trick again," Shien activated the sight-enhancing spell, found the glowing trail and started walking.

"Wait, you don't want to get out of here sooner?" Trinity stopped her.

"Yes, I do. That's why we should go and stop wasting time with someone, whos only concern right now is to _prove us how stupid we are_."

"But maybe..."

"Do you really believe that if we give up now, he'll actually send us back? Look, if you really want to give up, you're free to do so. I can't force you to continue with me."

"You have to give up both or continue both, no splitting until the end," the dragon smiled wickedly.

"You're worse than Lumiel," Shien grunted.

"Wait, what? Not _lady_ Lumiel?" Trinity was shocked with Shien's lack of respect for the Lady of Wisdom.

"Yeah, that's her official title. This, however, isn't anything official, so I can call that arrogant bitch as I want."

"You're really weird. But alright, I'll go with you," she carefully looked at the dragon, but he only gestured them to follow the glow.

The scenery of metal pipes, gears and steel-clad buildings soon receded and was replaced by old stone and wooden half-destroyed houses and dirty streets. The path led between them, down an obsidian staircase and through series of arches and tunnels into a large subterranean chamber. They stopped at the beginning of a narrow stone pathway between two boiling pools of lava. It ended at yellow and red glowing door in a dark ornamental wall. The last gate.

"I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but I don't think your fire spells are going to work here," Trinity stared at the passage. "I so miss my wings now."

"Uhm, wanna go first?"

"We can go together, right? Two people can fit on that... walkway."

"Eh, okay. Just don't fall off."

They grabbed each other's hand and carefully tried to step on the stone. It was hot. They could feel the heat through the bottoms of their shoes. To their partial relief, it wasn't burning. When they were in the middle, a lava bubble near them popped and sprayed several drops of molten stone. They instantly raised their shields, but more bubbles started popping.

"Run!" they yelled simultaneously and darted forward.

An unpleasant surprise in a form of half naked woman with a scary mask on her face and even scarier swords in her hands awaited them in front of the gate. The moment they left the lava walkway, she leaped and attacked. The two sorceresses could only strenghten their shields and try to evade the blades, but it wasn't easy in the small space they got. And running back to the lava hell wasn't an option. Trinity was lucky, the attacker only chopped off a part of her hair, but Shien wasn't quick enough and the jagged blade slashed across her arm. She cried in pain. The woman didn't wait and attacked her again. After few moments of unsuccessful attempts to cast any spells or dodge the swords Shien got several new cuts and fell to the ground. Those moments, however, gave Trinity enough time to concentrate and when the woman was about to deal finishing blow, she threw lightning and wind at her and pushed her away from her victim. Then Trinity added few another spells, that stunned the gate guardian and threw her into one of the two lava pools.

"Maybe we really should give up," she said when she examined Shien's injury.

"I didn't want to give him that pleasure," the Asmodian quietly chuckled. "You have to burn this and this," she pointed at some of her injuries, "or I'll bleed out before we actually pass that gate."

"Brun it? Won't it hurt?" Trinity was surprised by the request.

"Or heal it, your choice."

"I'm sorry, I can't heal," the Elyos replied with sad face. "Sorry, it will hurt."

And it did.

It took few minutes before Shien stopped shrieking from pain and was able to stand, though with big support from Trinity. Slowly they walked through the gate.

"Now what?" Trinity looked around, confused.

"Now we have to find the Forum of Azor. I'm so glad it's your turn now."

"Alright," the Elyos activated the seeing spell and sighed in relief when she quickly found the glowing trail. Slowly, but at steady pace, they walked alongside it. The tunnels with fire and pain motives ended soon and the path led though a nicely maintained city district. Their guiding line ended in the middle of a rotund area with a massive stone circle above supported by towers with the symbols from the gates they've been passing through. There was also a triangular pedestal in a shape of one of the symbols and on its points were staircases leading to something like rostra. Shien gladly sat on the stairs.

"So this is the Forum of Azor, hm?" Trinity looked around. "It's quite monumental. I wonder who that Azor was."

"If I should guess simply by the name, I'd say a dog," Shien replied. "Although dogs usually don't have public places named by them. But it could be some magical dog lord or something."

"What?" Trinity shook her head and started laughing.

"Well, we _did_ meet some strange creatures here. I wouldn't be surprised," Shien shrugged. "Wait... something's..."

"What's wrong?"

"Those towers. They're only nine."

"And? This symbol is here, so it can be missing from the towers," Trinity patted the pedestal.

"But it's not missing, it's there," Shien pointed at one of the towers. "Some other is missing, but I don't remember which one. And the dragon is nowhere to be seen."

"So the key to leave might be this one? Come," Trinity helped Shien stand and they both walked to the tower with the triangular symbol with writings in its center. When they touched it, the world disappeared in one bright flash.

~ x ~

Shien woke up. She was sitting on her chair in front of her work desk using map of Pandaemonium as a not too comfortable pillow. She knew she had a very strange dream, but couldn't recall any details. Her whole body ached. There were bruises and cuts on her arms and her dress was torn on several places. Confused she got up and noticed burnt injuries on her leg and hip.

 _What happened when I was asleep? And who the hell is Niv-Mizzet? Is it some forgotten Balaur lord?_

~ x ~

Trinity opened her eyes and realised she fell asleep. Carefully she got up, she didn't want to damage the map she had on her bed. Surprised she found a strand of her hair on it, as if it was cut. Also her dress had few small holes she didn't remember where she got them.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Good evening, Trinity," Kaza entered her room. "How are your studies going?"

"All good," she smiled. She was happy he finally showed up.

"Really? You look upset."

"I think I had really weird dream, but I can't remember anything of it. Tell me, Kaza, do you know if there were always only five Dragon lords?"

"Uhm, yes," the question caught him by surprise. "According to the history books Fredgion declared there will only be five. Why do you ask?"

"There was some name in the dream, I think it was _Niv-Mizzet_ or something. I don't know why, but I thought it was a Balaur."

"Ah, no, it was just a dream. There was no one of that name."

Trinity was still puzzled about the loss of her hair, as there were no sharp objects near her, so she didn't notice the relief in Kaza's voice.


	2. Drift into Dream

_This was a birthday gift for Nyinu from Karhun Asmodian._

 _It's a crossover of Aion and Blade &Soul._

* * *

 **Drift into Dream**

It was that time between sleep and awakening, when Nyinu realised something was off. First it were the sounds, too loud and wild to come from the Silver Tree village, then the faint breeze of Aether, which felt differently, than she had ever experienced, but most importantly, the touch. Instead of her soft and feathery bed she was lying on hard ground with stalks of grass stinging against every exposed part of her skin. Carefully she opened her eyes. Through the trees above her she saw a dark blue sky, a colour that sometimes appeared in Balaurea. Suddenly the sounds of surroundings have changed, as if something huge was running towards her. She jumped to her feet, formed a shield around her and looked in the direction of that sound. A creature that looked like a combination of brax, carnif and a flower bed was rushing at her. She instinctively cast a spell to bind it, but the plants didn't obey, she was forced to dodge. As she was rolling on the ground, she noticed her staff was tossed into a bush near her. Before the creature turned around, she grabbed her weapon, the focus for channeling the Aether. She sent two quick blasts at the creature and when she got familiar with the Aether around, she released several bolts of lightning at once. Nothing but a pile of charred coal remained of the attacker.

She took a deep breath and finally checked her state. She was alive, that was good. Unharmed too and there were no traces of any unusual substances in her body. What caught her attention was, that she was wearing her armour. Although calling is _armour_ would be inaccurate, it was a fine, short black dress enchanted and modified to function as armour. And it did a good job, the enchantment was precisely extended even to the parts of her body that were not covered by fabric. She was glad she had it on her right now, based on her encounter with the creature it might prove more than handy. But she clearly remembered to be dressed in her pyjamas with embroideries of cute snow darus, when she went to bed. So _how_ did she change without knowing about it? Did someone play with her mind? She decided to find the answers later and scanned the area around her properly. She was standing on a road lined with rocks and vegetation. The trees and bushes were similar to what she knew, but something was different. The shapes of the leaves, the patterns in the bark, the colour shades of blossoms. This was not Atreia. Although the Aether was there, it had different taste, currents, touch... and it felt stronger in the direction where the creature ran from. Once more she looked around and set off to the source of the strange Aether.

After few minutes of walk a pair of creatures similar like the first one appeared in front of her. They were about to attack, but something moved quickly between them. She heard several slashing sounds and the monsters fell. A person was standing above their bodies, in one hand she had a long knife, the other was empty, but ready to either defend or reach into one of the pockets on her belt. No claws on her fingers meant she was either Elyos or, given to the nature of Aether here, something completely different.

The two women were staring at each other for few moments, waiting for the other to react. Nyinu had time to take a good look at the newcomer. Her purple straight hair were partially bound to ponytail, partially left unkempt around her face and her eyes were almost unearthly blue. She was dressed into a white tunic with huge yellow ribbon instead of one sleeve, the other one was dark green, the same colour as her skirt.

"Who and what are you?" the woman finally spoke. Her voice sounded young.

"My name is Nyinu," she decided to tell her the truth for now. "I'm a cleric of Asmodae."

"I've never heard of such land, where is it?"

Nyinu was silent for few seconds, contemplating her words: "Can I ask you where are we now?"

"Huh? You don't know? This is Dreamdrift, the creepiest place on the Viridian Coast. How did you even get here without knowing it?"

"The last thing I remember was going to bed. Then I woke up here," the cleric explained patiently. "I had no intention of trespassing."

"So you're not from here? From Dreamdrift?" the purple haired woman was still suspicious.

"No."

"Prove it."

"How?"

"Uh... I don't know. Your Chi feels weird, so if you're a fiend, I'd have to kill you. But if you're not, I'd feel bad if I did."

"Chi?" Nyinu was usure what the word meant.

"Yes, Chi, every living creature has it. So you too. But yours is different, even I can feel that. It's not Dark, don't worry, it's just... weird."

"If it's not dark, it's fine, right?" _Something like Aether then._

"Probably... alright, I'll believe you. Nyinu, you said? Nice to meet you, I'm Stin. We should move, it's not wise to stay at one place too long here."

"Nice to meet you, Stin."

The purple haired one put her knife into a sheath behind her waist and started walking towards the stronger Aether. Nyinu frowned, if this was _the creepiest place_ , that behaviour was too careless. She didn't know if she could trust this Stin, she seemed crazy at least, but right now she had no choice. After not even a minute of walk another group of the flowered bizzare creatures appeared. This time Nyinu was used to the differences in Aether and bound them. Stin disappeared into shadows like an assassin and reappeared in the middle of the group, where she put something on the ground. Then she jumped away and the area exploded. Thanks to Nyinu's spell the blas hit all of the monsters, who were now disorientated. She sent lightning and earth blasts into the group, trying to not hit Stin, who was flashing among the creatures, giving them more or less serious cuts. All this happened within seconds.

"Wow, you're really good!" Stin said when the danger was over. "I've never seen anyone fighting like you. Sure, there are some who can make blasts from Chi, but those roots... and you're not even empowered by Dark Chi, but you're as good as Jinsoyun, maybe better."

"Who is that?"

"She's..." Stin's face became sad. "Someone very bad. And very powerful. I must to kill her, but I have to get much stronger than I'm now. That's why I'm here, let's go."

"What happened between you and this Jinsoyun?" Nyinu asked while walking.

"She killed my master. And my friends. She made Lusung betray us. And she marked me with Dark Chi. It spreads like a poison and it will corrupt me, slowly. If I won't find cure in time, I'll die. Or turn into a fiend. Or something worse. That's why I'm in hurry."

"Can I take a look at you? Removing poison is one of the things I've practiced well," Nyinu offered.

"It's not normal poison..."

"In this place, I'm not normal either."

"Well... alright..." Stin sighed and stopped. "How long will it take?"

"Just a moment," the cleric closed her eyes and concentrated on the young woman's body. The differences in the Aether were not making the diagnosis any easier, but after the time spent here she was able to filter most of them out. Finally she found what was she looking for. Deep inside Stin's soul was a flower shaped dark place, which slowly hauled in other parts and transformed them. Nyinu focused her cleansing Aether on that place. But instead of making Stin's soul clean again, the darkness lashed at her, breaking her concentration, depriving her of breath for few heartbeats.

"Are you alright?" she heard Stin's worried voice.

"What... was that?" Nyinu asked when she caught her breath.

"That was the Dark Chi, this one is called Mark of Black Rose, Jinsoyun likes roses."

"I'm sorry, Stin, it was too strong for me."

"That's fine, I've heard Dark Chi is something I have to get rid of myself anyway," Stin tried to smile, but her expression froze. "Get down!"

She bumped into Nyinu and both of them fell to the ground. Something flew right above them. They immediately got up and readied their weapons, Nyinu begun forming a shield. The attacker turned and flew towards them again. It had humanoid shape and was covered in rags, but parts of it were almost transparent.

"What is that?" the cleric asked.

"That's the reason why Dreamdrift is so creepy. There are spirits and some of them are not friendly at all. This one was probably awaken by your attempt to remove the Dark Chi. Or we were talking too loud, both are possible."

"How do we kill it?"

"I don't know, beat it until it stops moving?"

"Cover me," Nyinu rolled her eyes and her staff started glowing. Sparks and tiny bolts formed around her. She called upon the lightning and when it answered, she sent it at the angry spirit, who was occupied by Stin and her blade. The spell injured it, but it wasn't enough to kill it. And the spirit changed its target, it needed to eliminate the one who hurt it more. Nyinu reached inside her for every part of her power. At the moment when the spirit raised its hands to attack, she released the spell with a loud shout. The spirit imploded. After a heartbeat or two the Aether on the place of the spirit's demise twisted and formed a rift. Without any warning it pulled Nyinu in.

She woke up in her bed, dressed in her favourite pyjamas, her head was spinning and her mind clouded. The dream she just had felt so real. But it was just a dream, she was in her home and nothing indicated she has left it during the night. Nyinu got up and went to her bathroom to start with the morning hygiene. But when she looked into the mirror, she saw a black tattoo in the shape of rose.


	3. Colours of Aether

_This was a birthday gift for kjSkadi from Israphel Asmodian._

 _It's a crossover of Aion and Etherlords._

* * *

 **Colours of Aether**

Something was wrong. The air in the Frost Spirit Valley unexpectedly changed and woke Skadi up from her meditation trance. She frowned. This vale was her favourite place on Atreia, it was pleasantly cold here and there was frequent spirit activity, which she both enjoyed. The whiff of foreign Aether was faint, but she knew every part of this area. And something, or someone, clearly didn't belong here. She stood up and followed the strange sensation. As she was nearing the glacier on the east side of the canyon, she noticed eerie silence around her. All the spirits and petrahulks, who inhabited this area were now avoiding it. One more reason to investigate it and get rid of any threats. The glacier looked as a solid piece of ice from the distance, but Skadi already knew it was full of smaller or bigger ice caverns, some of them appeared and disappeard during every thaw, but other lasted as long as she remembered. In one such caverns she found what was she looking for, a rift embeded into the wall of ice. From the flow of Aether she could recognise the rift was two way, which was highly unstable, but the ice around prevented it from collapsing. And it would do so for very long time. Skadi touched the ice and examined the rift. Even through the ice it felt strange, as if it didn't belong to this world. She had to act, no matter how or why it was created, it couldn't stay. She poured some Aether to the ice to free the rift from its hibernation, hoping it will collapse on its own. The ice cracked and broke. The rift woke up, lashed out and exploded in one giant flash of bright light. The Asmodian shut her eyes and covered them with her hands, but even like this the shine was painfully piercing through her. She threw herself to the soft snow.

After several seconds she heard and felt the rift collapsing and then there was silence. She stood up and looked around. Something was wrong. Although it was still cold and snow around her, she was no longer in the ice cavern in Beluslan. She was standing on a cliff surrounded by a blizzard. And the Aether felt differently here. There were remnants of the rift, but they were quickly fading, this wasn't her way back home. She walked around the area few times and found only one path leading out of the place where she appeared. She has decided to follow it, maybe she'll find someone or something that will tell her where she is and how to get back. As she was walking, she practiced few spells to get hold of this foreign Aether.

Suddenly Skadi saw a movement between the trees and falling snowflakes. In an eyeblink two arrows were heading towards her. She deflected them and sent a simple blast in the direction of their origin. Through the wind she heard cracking of branches, but nothing more. After several moments another two arrows came from her right side. _Just how many people are there?_ This time she was only partially successful, one of the arrows pierced her leg. She fell down to her knees and noticed thin black lines slowly spreading from the wound, which hurt more than she was used to. _Poison?_

As she was trying to pull the arrow out, a person covered in furs cautiously approached her, with a bow ready to fire. A young female voice came out of the furs, but Skadi couldn't understand the words.

"I'm not here to cause harm," she replied in hopes they could find a common language. "And I don't understand you."

The archer watched her for a few moments. Then she pulled down her hood and revealed her face. Skadi was shocked. Right half of the archer's face was young with few scars and beautiful, kind purple eye, but the left part... pieces of metal covered her left eye and everything left of her nose and mouth, leaving a purple gem instead of an iris. All that contrasted with rough green hair cut under her chin. _Who could have done such thing?!_ The gem glowed and the girl said something, which Skadi still didn't understand, but the tone was calming and her hand was pointing to Skadi's wound.

"Is it going to kill me?" she asked to show effort in communication, rather than hoping for an answer.

"Kill," the girl nodded, knelt and quickly pulled the arrow out. Immense pain flew over Skadi, but in few seconds it was replaced by a soothing sensation, caused by green light coming out of the archer's hand.

"Thank you," the Asmodian said, when the healing was finished. The archer was already at her feet and aiming arrow at her. _So she doesn't want to kill me, but she doesn't want me to kill her either._ "You understand me?"

The girl nodded.

"Can you tell me where I am?"

As a response the archer frowned and then said some words she didn't understand.

"Can you say that in a language I understand?"

"You... tell me," she replied as someone who was learning a new language and was thinking about the words.

"All I can see are trees, rocks and snow. I have no idea what this place is, that's why I asked."

"Snow," the archer frowned and then as if she suddenly realised something, she took off her top cloak and offered it to Skadi, who looked surprised with that gesture. Sure, she wore only very light dress, but it wasn't a problem for her.

"Thank you, but I'm fine like this."

"Fine?"

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine with cold. Look, girl, I didn't come here on purpose. There was accident and I appeared here. I don't know this place and I don't want to harm anyone. I just want to go back home and ensure everything is alright. Can you help me or not?"

"Help... come..." the archer pointed at a seemingly random direction, her gem eye stopped glowing and she started walking. "Home."

Skadi could only roll her eyes at the strange behaviour and even stranger choice of words. During the way through low trees and rocks she realised that all the words the girl used, she had used first. _Does she have some ability to understand spoken words even if it's the first time she heard them?_ After a while they arrived to a hut built as an extension of a shallow cave. It was very simple and humble place with one bed, one fireplace and various things lying around. _How can anyone live in a place like this?_

"Here," he girl pointed at the bed, prompting Skadi to sit down, then she added some wood to the fireplace, put a kettle on a simple construction above it and took of the outer layers of her clothes, which she folded and sat on it. Skadi noticed metal wires incorporated into the left side of the girl's neck and the fact she took off only her right glove. Her gem eye started glowing again. "I help, but you tell," she said.

"Tell what?"

"Language, understand."

"You can learn a language just by listening?"

"No... I..." she sighed. "Yes. You tell, I tell."

"Fine. But first, tell me your name. I don't want to call you just _girl_ all the time. I am Skadi."

"Phi."

"Alright, Phi, I'll tell you a story about the Cataclysm."

Skadi was narrating the history and legends of her home for about two hours, while drinking tea and eating bread like pastry. During that time Phi got enough of the language to start asking questions. Then Skadi told her about finding the strange rift and being transported here.

"I thought you were invader, but they only use colorless, Pale Ether, you used White Ether back then," Phi pondered.

"White Aether? I've never heard about Aether having colours," Skadi was surprised.

"There are four colours of Ether: Green, Blue, Black and Red. And if you combine all of them, you'll get White. It's very rare, only few people in the entire history were able to use it. I've set up wards on that cliff where you appeared, there are often portals, Pale creatures who devour our Ether are coming out of them. But your portal was different, I didn't even notice it was active, until the wards informed me about you. Hm, yes, we will need White Ether to get you back."

"What should I do then?"

"Rest. We will need a lot of it. I think. I have been educated, but I don't have experience with creating portals. But I know someone who might help us. We'll go to Abandoned City tomorrow."

"We?"

"Yes, we. You don't know the way and even if I described it for you, it would be too dangerous for someone who doesn't know a thing about this land. Especially when one of the weakest Synthet poisons can almost knock you down. You wouldn't stand a chance if you got caught. And I'm worried about what impact can your presence have on the Ether stability in long term. Since you want to go back, there's no need to hold you here."

"I will welcome your help, Phi," Skadi said. "Can you tell me more about the Aether colours? You can use the Green one, right?"

"Yes," Phi nodded blankly. "And Black. I... I'll tell you more tomorrow, let's go to sleep now. You're a guest, you can stay in my bed."

~ x ~

The blizzard stopped during the night and they woke up into cloudy morning with chill breeze. Skadi was happy to be outside again, as Phi's hut was too hot for her. It wasn't insufferable heat in there, but she still felt better in the cold. She helped Phi with packing some supplies and then they headed towards a mountain range in south.

"The Abandoned City lies in the center of the continent, all four realms have access to it, but no one is going there, except for occasional adventurers and thieves," Phi started. "It will take us few days, if we're careful."

"Thieves? Is there anything worth of stealing?"

"It's an ancient city, there used to be a lot of treasures, but they're mostly gone now. The only valuable things I know of are the Relics of Heroes, artifacts from quite recent history, about two hundred years. They are really powerful and I can imagine many people would want them, but they are also not always reliable. And they have a guardian, who won't let anyone to take them."

"And we're going there why?"

"We need to talk with the guardian. If anyone can know how to get you back, it would be her. She's a bit crazy, but don't worry, we're friends, sort of, she shouldn't be hostile. If we make it all the was to the City, convincing her to help you shouldn't be that hard."

" _If_ we make it? That's not much reassuring," Skadi frowned. "What are the dangers of getting there?"

"Well, we'll go along the border of Synthet and Kinet realms, if we get spotted by any patrols, we'll be in trouble."

"These Synthets and Kinets don't get along, I suppose."

"It's not as bad as... ah, right, you don't know. So, this continent is divided into four almost equal parts, based on which Ether is most frequent where. The south west is inhabited by Vitals, they use the Green Ether, which symbolises nature, like forests, plants, animals and life in general. Sounth east is domain of Red Ether, it means fire and lightning and chaos. It's a land full of volcanos and lava pits, the Chaots live there. On the north there are Kinets," Phi pointed to the east, "and Synthets. Kinets use Blue Ether, air and water and some really creative enchantments. Their land is divided into numerous islands, unlike the Synthets, who mostly live in desert and mountains. Synthets use Black Ether. It's... the Black Ether doesn't do well to living organisms, that's why all Synthets who can modify their bodies with machine parts do so. They call it _enhancing_ , but... nevermind," Phi shook her head. "The biggest animosity is between Synthets and Vitals and between Kinets and Chaots. They are often willing to ignore the others, if there's no danger, but we will have to go on the Synthet part of the border, there is a lake on the Kinet part and it would be quite huge detour."

"From what you described, you're a Synthet, right? Why it would be trouble?"

"Hm... I was born as Vital, but when I grew up, I was injured in a battle and captured by Synthet scientist who made me like this. He found some ancient notes about experiments on the legendary Diamanda and I was supposed to be the first step in creating a being who could wield all Ethers. He succeeded, I have no problem with Green and Black and I know few Blue spells, but when the others found out what was he doing, they wanted to kill me. But he convinced them to send me into exile instead. To watch over the Pale portals."

"So he was quite a nice guy, huh?"

"No, not at all. He's a Synthet scientist. He was horrified by the idea of his creation being destroyed. He cared about my _living parts_ only because the mechanical ones would lose their meaning without them."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"So, that's why it would be a problem if we were discovered on Synthet territory. Well, you could say you're a Kinet and they would just escort you out of their land, but me? They see me only as some bloody _greenie_ who stole their precious technology. They don't care that I have never wanted these parts. Although I would have died without them, Omega saved my life by attaching them to my broken body. But hey, it allowed me to understand you, so not bad."

Skadi remained silent, there was nothing she would find appropriate to say. The girl obviously didn't want a pity, she was only telling unpleasant memories. And that's always emotional.

They spent the rest of the day and three other days with mostly walking, observing the landscape and occasional friendly conversations. Phi was on alert all the time, even in sleep. The threat of running into patrol was very disturbing for her. Twice they had to hide for few hours and Skadi could see the real Synthet warriors with their artificial limbs and mechanical mounts. They definitely didn't look as friendly as Phi.

During the afternoon of the fourth day they saw walls of once a great city. Phi didn't have to say anything, Skadi immediately guessed this was their destination. To her surprise, she could feel bursts of Aether from the ruins.

"Is that normal?" she asked her companion.

"Depends on what you consider normal. It looks like a fight, come, let's get closer," Phi unmistakably chose the most direct path through the maze of fallen buildings and soon they stood on a balcony and watched four people fighting in the street under them. Three robust warriors were cooperating, trying to defeat a slender black haired woman, but even though they commanded a wolf and pair of rats, she was able to avoid their attacks and spells without any trouble. Phi prepared her bow and aimed.

"Don't," she said quietly when she noticed Skadi preparing a spell. "Miriell doesn't like when someone is interfering with her fights."

"Then why are you aiming at them?"

"I want the wolf skin. She's going to burn it, if the wolf gets too close. It would be a waste," the archer explained and let loose her arrow. It pinned the wolf to the paving. "And now we're going to watch."

It was indeed an impressive battle. There was no shortage of fire and lightning, which in combination of Miriell's shields and ice and wind techniques created an unforgettable show. After few minutes the Miriell looked bored, so she jumped into the middle of their group and channeled the greatest chain lightning Skadi has ever seen.

"She can wield two Aethers as well?" the Asmodian asked in surprise.

"Yes. She's like me, outcast, because her people see her as an abomination. Though her story isn't as happy as mine. Her mother was a Kinet, her father is a Chaot. It was not a willing relationship."

"Regardless of who her parents were, she's good."

"Yes. She learnt to use the Red and Blue Ether in very creative ways. Let's go greet her. I'll translate for you," Phi smiled and descended from the balcony.

When the guardian noticed them, she greeted with an old friend and for a moment they were arguing about the dead wolf. Then Phi led her to Skadi.

"Skadi, Miriell, Miriell, Skadi," she introduced them. "I've told her about your problem and she needs to hear your story from you. The one how you got here."

"Nice to meet you, Miriell," Skadi smiled. "Alright, well..."

Skadi started talking and after every few sentences she waited for Phi to translate her words. Miriell had some questions related to rifts and Skadi's perception of Aether in general, but they got over it shortly. After that Miriell clapped her hands, said something that sounded optimistic and ran towards the dead wolf.

"She's inviting us for dinner," Phi smiled. "We'll have roasted wolf, she was able to get some new spices. Come, I'll better help her with skinning, or there won't be much left of the pelt."

Miriell's home looked similar to Phi's on the north. A bed, a fireplace, few shelves that survived the destruction of the city and a lot of stuff all around. Though one difference was striking for Skadi. As the weather in the city was warmer and without snow, the room with lit fireplace was almost hell for her. After taking few bites from the delicious meat, she had to excuse herself and seek the fresh air outside.

"Are you alright?" Phi appeared after few minutes.

"I'm fine, it's just too hot here."

"Ah, right, you need snow and cold, right? Wait a moment," she ran inside and after a while she appeared with Miriell. The guardian summoned Blue Aether and created ice walls around one of the fallen pillars, that could be as good substitute for bed as anything else in these ruins.

"It won't last forever, but it should keep you fine over night. Miriell needs sleep before we try to create the portal for you."

"Thank you," Skadi smiled gratefully. "For everything, Phi."

"That's fine. It's not like we'll meet friendly face too often here. Good night!"

Skadi slept only a little during that night. Her thoughts kept whirling in her head and she couldn't stop them. _Why are they helping me so much? Are they really so happy about seeing someone who doesn't want to kill them? Or are they trying to get rid of me because of unstable Aether? If they can create a portal to Atreia, aren't they danger? If I get back, I'll have to do more research about the rifts and where they can lead to._

Due to the restless sleep she woke up very early. When the outcast girls joined her, she had a surprise for them. Two small wind spirits were playing around her feet.

"What are these?" Phi yelped. This time she didn't wear gloves, so Skadi could see that her left arm is artificial too.

"Gifts. You didn't have to, but you helped me, so I decided to give you friendly companions. They can't talk, but they understand thoughts of the person bound to them. If you want, I'll bind one to each of you."

Phi translated Skadi's offer to Miriell, who immediately agreed and picked up one of the spirits right away. After the spirits were bound, the girls led Skadi through an underground labyrinth to a chamber with four items placed on pedestals: a tiara, a mechanical staff, a sword and a horn.

"Two hundred years ago there was a Pale plague that came from the portal on the north," Phi said with respect. "It took half of Kinet and Synthet lands, which resulted in Kinets and Synthets invading south. Four heroes were able to stop the plague and avert the all out war. Eileen of Rowan clan, Konnar of Fire Valley, Alpha 100F _Steel_ and Mirabell from the City of Eight Gates. These Relics belonged to them, each is imbued with the Ether they mastered. Now, if the heroes allow, we will use the Relics to help you return home."

"You can do that?"

"We hope so," Phi donned the tiara and held the staff, Miriell took the horn and the sword. "Please concentrate on some place that's dear to you, we will need to use you as a focus."

The Asmodian closed her eyes and thought about her favourite Frost Spirit Valley. The Aether whirled around her for few long minutes. When the flow stabilised, she dared to open her eyes. The valley was around her. She scanned the Aether in every part of it and checked behaviour of the local spirits. Only after she was done, she smiled. She was back home. And her home was safe for now.


	4. Ancient Mysteries

_This was a birthday gift for Bryos from Tiamat Asmodian._

 _It's a crossover of Aion and Warcraft. (slightly)_

* * *

 **Ancient Mysteries**

His idea about mission as reward greatly differed from the idea of Archon Freyja. Heiron forest was the third worst place he has ever visited, after Katalam and Kaidan Headquarters, and not even possibility of discovering a pre Cataclysm temple dedicated to lady Lumiel could help him to feel better about it. He didn't understand Freyja's obsession with the Shedim lords. They were their leaders and he truly respected them, especially lord Marchutan, but he knew they were not perfect. He prayed to them more out of habit than in hopes for their miracles. He loved history. It was due to all those books he read and stories he heard, that his faith in the Shedim lords wasn't as zealous as Freyja's. And right now he would be much happier if he could go to Enshar and help the Reians and learn and record information about them, while they still remembered it. The Upheaval made refugees from once proud and great nation he admired from the first day he visited their city.

 _It will better be a real temple._ He sighed and crouched under another almost fallen tree and forced his attention on the land in front of him. The jungle was always full of surprises, small pools masked in grass, so random travellers wouldn't notice them until they stepped into them, nests of various insects and worms only waiting to be disturbed, but the worst was the everpresent heat and humid air.

After few hours of walking and crawling and evading everything and everyone, he finally reached the Lepharist territory. The temple should be located on the west side, which was fortunately the direction he came from. He watched the guards for another hour, during which he remembered their timing and routes. The sun went lower, it didn't fully set behind the horizon, that never happened in Elysea, but the shadows were now longer and it was easier for him to hide. If he was an assassin, he would have no trouble with overcoming the guards, but he was chanter and didn't posses any special ability to hide in shadows. And staff was more difficult to hide than sword or dagger. Slowly he circled the guarded entrance to the area and hidden in bushes he was able to get closer to the building, that was supposed to be the temple. There were no guards in front of it, which he attributed to the fact, the temple was called _cursed_ , although no one was able to tell him why. He entered and silently descended the stairs. In the middle he stopped and listened. Some voices echoed from the room ahead of him, one male, deep and sad, the other belonged to a female, calm and soothing. He readied his staff and made few steps closer. He didn't want to attack them, even if it were Elyos who just needed some privacy, but it didn't hurt to first learn what they were doing there and be ready if he was discovered.

"Is it fixed yet?" the sad voice asked.

"Please be patient, the box is very ancient, I do not want to do some irrepairable damage to it," the woman answered and to his surprise, it didn't sound irritated.

"Lumiel gave it to me. Then left. Never came back. It shouldn't break."

"Do not worry, Deshirung. I will fix your music box before I leave. And if I meet Lumiel on my travels, I will ask her to visit you," she paused. "And you, visitor," she raised her voice a bit. She has noticed him. "If you do not wish us harm, you can enter without worry."

He decided to show himself. Still with the staff ready in his hand he stepped into the room. What he saw took him by complete surprise. In the midle of the room, that indeed looked like remains of some local temple, hovered a huge baloon like creature with two short fat arms and large, sad face.

"You're not Lumiel," it said. "Why are you here?"

"Ehm... I heard this place was a temple dedicated to lady Lumiel, so I came to investigate," he replied a bit stiffly.

"It was, indeed," the other voice spoke and he realised there should be the woman who was talking to this... creature before. She was sitting on one of the fallen rocks and smiling at him. Her hair and skin had the colour of bronze, which nicely contrasted with her white and still clean dress. She was holding a box on her lap and he saw her fingers had no claws. But his certainity about her being an Elyos waivered a bit when he looked into her eyes. Curious deep pools of red glittered like rubies in the torchlight. Two very ancient rubies. She continued: "From what I could find so far, it was a small local shrine dedicated to her. Probably tribute, some place where you could pray in silence, instead of temple of glory and celebrations. Deshirung has been helpful, but his memory has suffered due to the Cataclysm."

"Err... thank you. We had no idea something like this could be in Heiron, let alone untouched for all these years."

"That is because of Deshi... oh, where are my manners! My name is Seadormi and I study ancient ruins. Any ruins. The older the better. Deshirung here is the only inhabitant and guardian of this shrine. Because of his presence here the vandals found it to be difficult to destroy this place and stay alive."

"I'm Bryos, it's nice to meet you," the Asmodian said, still a bit astounded by the _guardian_ and the friendly behaviour of the Elyos woman. She acted as if there was no war between them. But those eyes... was she really an Elyos? _What else she could be? Balaur?_ No, that wasn't possible, even though the Balaur had a humanoid form, they couldn't achieve fully human shape. No, she was definitely an Elyos. Her eyes could be an anomaly or she could have some Asmodians in her ancestry. And they could look older, if she had seen too much.

"Nice to meet you too, Bryos. If you could excuse me for a moment, I would like to finish repairs of this music box."

"Yes, sure," he nodded and watched her weaving Aether around the box. Her technique was strange, he has never seen anyone working with Aether like this, but it might have been some Elyos thing. He never got an opportunity to watch them casting spells outside of battle. Then he realised why he came here at the first place. "Uhm, guardian Deshirung, would you mind if I made copies of some of the stone plates here? I promise I won't break anything."

"If you promise me to tell my regards to Lumiel, you can," the blimp replied, its voice was still sad.

"Yes, when I get the opportunity to talk with her, I'll tell her you're still here," Bryos agreed. He didn't add that the probability of him speaking directly to the Lady of Wisdom was next to zero. Regardless, he made a mental note to mention Deshirung in his report. He took large parchment and piece of chalk from his cube and begun redrawing first plate. It went surprisingly well and when he finished third plate, he found out that the others are too damaged to be of any use. As he looked for anything else he could copy and bring back for studies, he heard a beautiful and mesmerizing melody. Seadormi has repaired the box and was now presenting it to Deshirung. The big sad face was slowly turning into a happy one.

"Thank you, elder one, thank you," the guardian cried, when she put the music box on a place where it looked like it belonged. _Elder one?_

"It is sad, that the Dragon lords failed in their responsibilities," she said suddenly, her face was serious.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Bryos asked.

"Aion has created them to be protectors of this world," she explained. "And they failed, they succumbed to temptation of power and tried to enslave those whom they should protect. The saddest part is, all of them did so."

"You study the Dragon lords too?" although he could never admit it aloud, he found the Balaur oddly fascinating.

"Yes. I need to find out why they failed. What happened that caused it," as before, her face changed in an instant and she smiled. "But if they didn't, there would be no need for the Empyrean lords and this lovely music box wouldn't exist."

He couldn't figure out what to think of it. Was she insane? Or just too immersed in her studies? It would be nice to know more, but he had to return. Mission was a mission. And she was an Elyos, where was one, more could arrive any moment.

"It was nice to talk with you, but I have to hurry back," he told them. "Farewell."

"Farewell, don't forget to tell Lumiel I'm still waiting here," Deshirung made a gesture that could be waving.

"Farewell, Bryos of Asmodae," Seadormi smiled. "When I come to study ruins to your lands, please do not attack me. It would pain me if I had to hurt you."

"Uh, sure," he shook his head and left the room. On his way out he sort of agreed with Freyja, the mission wasn't as bad as he thought. Of course, he still had to overcome the Lepharist guards and find some rift back to Asmodae, both could prove to be difficult and could alter his opinion. But somehow the encounter with the floating creature and the Elyos with strange eyes has put his mind at ease.


End file.
